Fading
by RyleeBeth
Summary: With all the drama of her past haunting her, Quinn hasn't been taking care of herself or reaching out to anymore. But what happens when she faints during glee club rehearsal? Has a lot of Quinn/Sam in it, but a lot of Quinn/everyone friendship, too.
1. And So it Begins

_This story is the result of a random idea at about four in the morning. I feel like the show hasn't explored the emotions that Quinn must be feeling and the possible effects of them. I mean, she had a baby a few months ago. Anyways, I really hope that this is at least somewhat decent. _

Quinn really hadn't been sleeping very much lately. Whenever she slept, she'd have dreams, dreams that were too good to be true. She'd dream of Beth and having a happy, full Fabray family again. When should would wake up, it would be too much. She'd cry for hours over dreams that she wished were real. To stop the pain, she decided to sleep as little as possible. At first it was hard, but she learned to deal with the tiredness. The luxury of sleep wasn't something girls like her earned, in her opinion.

Her mom didn't seem to notice the bags under her eyes or how her daughter, who was normally very alive in the morning, dragged her feet before leaving for school. However, a few people did notice. Kurt, Mercedes, Sam, and even Finn were constantly asking her if she slept. She would always lie to them and tell them that she just hated getting up early in the morning. Quinn tried to ignore the looks they gave her telling her that they saw through her, especially the look Sam gave her. His eyes would flash with hurt, but she just told herself that she was seeing things.

Believe it or not, Quinn didn't have body image issues anymore. Feeling insecure about baby weight wasn't the reason why she didn't eat all the time. Sometimes, she skipped meals because she was too busy with other things or too busy with her emotions. Some days she was too upset/grieving/hurt/sad/angry to feel hungry. The only meal she consistently ate was lunch, because if she didn't, her lunch group would have a panic attack, Mercedes would call her a hypocrite, and Tina would try to feed her peppermint patties. Quinn knew that her behavior wasn't exactly healthy, but she didn't think anything bad would ever come of it.

Then there was the stress and anxiety. She was so torn between her present life and her past. Should she go back to being head bitch, or treat people differently? She also had trouble dealing with the girls who would whisper words like "slut" or the bold bullies who would ask her "are you knocked up again?" It hurt like hell, and it made her feel horrible because of similar tormenting she had done the previous year. Was she always going to be pegged as the cruel pregnant girl? And although she would never admit it, giving up Beth made her feel so alone. Beth was her only family member who she had a connection with. All of these emotions led to horrible, yet quick, anxiety attacks. Of course, nobody knew about all of this because Quinn never told anyone.

The first time it happened, it was the day before it resulted in something more. She hit the off button on her alarm clock and slowly got up from bed. The walls of her room started spinning and she swayed before falling back into bed. A few seconds later, she felt perfectly normal. Quinn chalked it up to getting up too fast, and ignored the back of her mind telling her that she had stood up slowly.

The second time it happened, she was walking down the hallway with Mercedes and Kurt. The dizzy spell only lasted about ten seconds, but it was disorienting enough for her to stumble. Her two best friends were immediately concerned, but she told them that she had simply lost her balance. After a minute of false reassurance, they seemingly believed her. Quinn didn't know whether to be happy or sad about that. Half of her wanted her issues to remain secret, but the other half desperately wanted someone to find out about them and help her.

The third time it happened was the worst. She had just finished Cheerios practice and was surprised that she didn't feel dizzy during that hard workout, but instead, she just felt oddly weak. She packed up her things and walked to glee club practice. Quinn took her usual seat by Sam.

"Hey, Q, are you feeling alright? Because you kind of look a little pale," he whispered.

Before she could answer him, Mr. Shuester came in and told everyone to be quiet and that they would be learning a pretty hard dance routine that day, so he needed everyone's attention. Sam looked at his girlfriend worriedly, and wondered how she would hold up throughout the dance number. She looked pretty sick. Mr. Shuester told the kids a little bit about the choreography for their new Journey number, before calling them to come up and learn it. He told them the pairings for the dance, and Sam was relieved that Kurt would be dancing with Quinn. He would watch out for her.

For thirty minutes, the rehearsal went on without event. Quinn's friends glanced over at her periodically, but she appeared to be doing well. It wasn't until the middle of the repetition of the song that things started to go downhill. Kurt had spun Quinn round, but instead of her being pulled right back in, her knees buckled, and Kurt had to hold her up. The music stopped quickly and Mr. Shue ran over towards Kurt and Quinn.

"Quinn, what happened?" he asked.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, and when she opened them, she felt fine. The room had stopped rapidly rotating, and she was able to stand without Kurt's assistance.

"I just lost my footing," she lied, "I'm perfectly fine."

"No you're not," protested Kurt.

"Seriously blondie, this has got to stop," agreed Mercedes.

"Something's been up with, you, Q," added Santana.

"What's wrong?" asked Sam, who had crossed the room and wrapped his arms around Quinn's waist.

"I'm fine, Sam," she said quietly.

"Quinn," Mr. Shuester started, "if something's wrong you need to tell us. I can't let you rehearse if it's not a good idea. You don't look well at all."

"While Sectionals is approaching, if you're this ill, you can sit out and watch," Rachel said with genuine concern in her voice.

"We just want you to be ok," whispered Tina.

"I'm perfectly fine," she continued to lie, despite the fact that she was starting to feel dizzy again and that everything appeared hazy to her.

"Ok then, let's try it again. Sam, Kurt, why don't you switch partners just to be safe?"

Kurt rushed over to gossip with Mercedes, his new partner, to discuss what happened. When the music started, everyone half-danced and half-watched Quinn.

"I know something's up," Sam whispered in Quinn's ear.

She was going to reply, but she couldn't focus on finding her voice. Everything was moving to quickly and everything looked to blurry. It scared her that the dizziness wasn't going away like it usually did. She wanted to tell Mr. Shuester that she needed to stop and sit out, but she wasn't even capable of doing that. She heard several voices call her name, and relief soon followed. Quinn felt herself fall into Sam's arms before everything went black.

"Sam, is she unconscious?"

"Yep, she's out cold," Sam reported, his voice shaking ever so slightly. He couldn't believe that Quinn had just fainted. At least he saw it coming and had been able to catch her.

"Alright, let's lie her down gently. Everyone back up and take a seat except for Sam, Mercedes, and Kurt. We need to make sure that she doesn't panic when she wakes up. She'll feel more at ease if she sees you three first."

Together, Sam and his glee club teacher carefully put Quinn on the floor. Brittany and Santana were surprisingly knowledgeable about what to do and instructed Quinn's friends to elevate her feet. In the words of Santana, "freshmen pass out in Cheerios practice all the time." Her feet were elevated by being set in Kurt's lap, while Mercedes and Sam kneeled on either side of her.

After about two minutes, Quinn started to slowly regain her consciousness. She started to be able to hear the voices of the people next to her.

"Quinnie, when are you going to wake up, honey?" Mercedes asked worriedly.

"Please wake up, Quinn. And by the way, nice shoes," Kurt said.

"Quinn? You're scaring me, you know. This isn't funny," Sam added.

They got no response. Quinn's three friends beside her were starting to become very anxious, as did the other glee club members. Puck and Finn kept suggesting stupid ways to try and wake up Quinn, and Santana and Rachel kept smacking them. Finally, Kurt spoke up.

"Guys! She just kicked her foot a little bit! Are you ready to join us again, Sleeping Beauty?"

She felt someone grab her hand and she could almost open her eyes, but not yet. Her eyelids felt unnaturally heavy.

"Quinn, if it's not too much, could you please squeeze my hand?"

She recognized Sam's voice and went to work on his request right away. It took a great amount of strength, but she was able to squeeze his hand.

"Thank you, Quinnie. Can you open your eyes for me now?"

"Wait- Sam! She squeezed your hand?" Mike asked incredulously.

"Yeah, she did," Sam answered, not looking up from his girlfriend's face.

"She's coming around," Tina said excitedly.

Quinn wondered why Sam was making her put in so much effort. Her eyes didn't want to open, couldn't he understand that? But she didn't want to disappoint her boyfriend, so she started to fight with the weights that were her eyelids. She gasped.

"Quinn?" everyone asked at once.

She continued to fight, and finally, she won. Why was everything so bright? And why was she lying on the floor?

"She's awake," Mercedes announced, and everyone sighed in relief.

"Quinn," said Mr. Shuester as he walked over to her, "stay down, ok? How are you?"

"Confused," she mumbled.

"You fainted," he explained, "I'm going to go call your mom. Nobody go anywhere."

"Sam," Quinn moaned.

"I'm right here, Quinnie, it's ok. You're going to be ok."

"Kurt and I are right here, too. We're not going anywhere," Mercedes promised.

"Yep, I'm here. Your feet are in my lap," smiled Kurt reassuringly.

"Peeps, check if she has a fever," Puck suggested.

Mercedes put her hand on her friend's forehead before reporting that Quinn wasn't feverish at all.

"Quinn, love, how are you feeling?" Sam asked while brushing the hair back from her face.

"My head really hurts and everything's spinning," she told him. From the way she looked, it wasn't a surprise that she felt so terrible.

"You passed out while we were rehearsing some choreography. Do you remember how you felt around then?"

"Yes," she said, "the past couple of days I had been randomly feeling dizzy. During rehearsal I started to feel really sick, but I didn't want to worry anyone, so I kept going. And then when our partners got switched so we could dance together, I remember you saying something to me, but I couldn't find my voice to reply. Then it got even worse and I wanted to tell you and Mr. Shuester that I needed to stop, but as I said, I couldn't find my voice. The last thing I remember before everything went black was losing feeling in my legs and I think being caught by you."

Tears were streaming down her face. Mercedes went to work on wiping them away while Sam went to work on stopping them.

"Yes, I did catch you. I saw you stumbling and put my arms out. Now, why are you crying, Quinnie? Everything's going to be ok."

"It was scary. Usually it would go away after a few seconds, but it just kept getting worse."

"You should have told us what has been happening," interjected Kurt.

"Kurt's right," Mercedes agreed.

"Of course I am," he laughed.

"Quinn, they're right. You should have told someone. You need to tell me when something's up, ok? I care about you. And I know it was scary-

"Ugh. It's still scary. I'd really appreciate it if everything would stop swirling and being so blurry."

"Please don't be so scared, love. You're going to be ok."

"Hey, guys?" called Mr. Shuester.

"Yeah?"

"I can't reach Quinn's mom-

"I'll take her to the doctor and take care of her for the night," Sam said immediately.

"Great, I was just going to ask you that. Ok, now we still have about an hour left in rehearsals. Sam and Quinn, you guys are free to leave whenever we're ready. The rest of you guys, we're not going to be doing anymore dancing today… or anything else. You have the rest of the period off."

Gently, Sam scooped Quinn up off the floor and carried her bridal style over to the chairs. He sat her in between Tina and Santana.

"I have to go tell Coach Bieste that I won't be at practice. I'll be right back. You two watch over her, ok?"

"I promise," swore Tina.

"I'm about to go all mother hen on her," Santana assured Sam.

Sam kissed Quinn's forehead before leaving the room.

"Why you be fainting, bitch? Despite the fact that I appear to hate you, you're still my baby! Don't go scaring your momma like that!" Santana scolded.

"What a day," murmured Mike.

_OK, that's it for this chapter. Please review!_


	2. Insults and Love

_I know I said that I'd update Friday, but then something unexpected came up. Anyways, after this chapter, there will be three more. I'll try to update as quickly as possible, but I return to school from Thanksgiving break tomorrow. _

Quinn was sleeping peacefully in the front seat of Sam's care. Her blonde hair was falling messily down below her shoulders and she was leaning against the window. It made Sam smile and feel reluctant to wake her up, but he knew he had to.

"Quinn?" he called softly, while lightly tapping her shoulder.

"No," she mumbled sleepily.

"Come on, you have to get up."

"No," she reiterated, reaching her hand out to slap him blindly. She ended up hitting the side of the car.

"You missed. Now come on, it's time for your doctor's appointment. Do I have to tickle you?"

"I'm up."

"Of course you are now," he laughed, helping her up out of the car.

She started walking, and was fine for about five steps, before she swayed to the left side, and Sam had to steady her. She tried to step out of his embrace and carry on, but he tightened his grip around her waist.

"Let me carry you."

"No. Definitely not."

"You're no fun."

"That's what Puck said."

"What?"

"Never mind."

"Alright then, but this time, please try walking in a straight line."

"I'll do my best," she said sarcastically.

They made it inside the doctor's office without further stumbling, but Sam's arms hovered around Quinn's waist, just in case. After sitting down, Quinn didn't want to get up, so Sam went to check in for her. Once he sat back down, she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"You're cute when you're not feeling well," he commented.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd kindly shut up."

"And you're also mean."

"I'm always mean. Get used to it."

"Nah, I don't think you're mean all the time. In fact, sometimes you've been rather nice to me."

"Like when?"

"Like when we were singing our duet together and we were holding hands-

"Rare moment of exception."

"If you want to view yourself as a cold-hearted creature, go ahead, but know that I disagree, and that I'm right."

"Of course you are, because you've known me for six weeks, and I've known myself for sixteen years."

"Face it Q, sometimes I know you better than you know yourself."

"I deny that accusation."

"Of course you do, love, of course you do."

"You're starting to sound like Edward Cullen."

"You read the Twilight series too?"

"Oh my god. What did I see in you?"

"My charm, my-

"That was a rhetorical question, Sam."

"Or was it?"

"Yeah, it was, Evans."

'You really are no fun, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

"Fine, be that way."

"I will."

Sam stuck his tongue out at her.

"You're such a dork."

"You know you love it."

"Just keep telling yourself that."

"I should keep a record of how many times you insult me."

"I bet it would turn out to be a very high number."

"I agree, but I still don't think you're always mean. I think you are actually a very nice person."

"Stop being so annoying."

"You know that I'm right, don't you?"

"Shut up."

"Quinn Fabray?" called a nurse.

"Come on, Quinn," Sam urged, getting up and holding out his hand. To his surprise, when Quinn got up, she didn't let go of his hand. Instead, she tightened her grip on him and gave him a look that said "you're coming with me." He made a mental note to ask her if she was scared of going to the doctor's office later. (Because he was curious and because he knew it would provoke an amusing reaction from her.)

"Now, Quinn, friend of Quinn, have a seat. You're going to have to get a blood test in a couple of minutes. But first, are you allergic to anything?"

"No."

"Have you ever fainted before?"

"Two years ago because of a stupid cheerleading diet."

Her answer surprised Sam. He never knew that she ever was one of the cheerleaders who didn't eat properly. He made another mental note to ask her about that.

"And you haven't had any similar problems since then?"

"No."

"Ok then, let me take your blood pressure… Low, not surprisingly. Alright, in a couple of minutes a doctor will be in to draw some blood."

"Are you scared to get your blood drawn?"

"Not really. I had to get multiple blood tests when… last year."

"Ah, I see. So, is there something you'd like to talk to me about?"

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't know that you were one of the cheerleaders that went all anorexic."

"That was a long time ago, Sam. It doesn't matter anymore."

"I think it does."

"Well, you're wrong."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Hello! Ms. Fabray, I'm Dr. Shaw. Now, if you'll just hold out either arm for me, we'll get going."

Quinn held one arm, while still holding Sam's hand with her other. Sam was amazed at how calm she looked. He was probably more freaked out by the needle than she was. When the needle went in, she flinched slightly, but that was it. The doctor told them that she'd be back about ten minutes later with the results of the blood tests.

"You're brave."

"I told you, I've had a lot of blood tests before."

"But still… the needle."

"It's not that bad."

"Ok then."

For ten minutes, Quinn half-slept with her head back on Sam's shoulder. Sam was tempted to (again) make a comment on how cute she looked, but decided that he didn't want to annoy her at the moment. Besides, then she would probably move, and he liked having her close to him.

"Ms. Fabray?"

"Yes?"

"It appears that your fainting was due to a combination of three things. Not enough sleep, dehydration, and not enough eating. You'll be fine but just to be safe, the hospital is expecting you. You'll just need to be there for about an hour to receive an IV drip."

Quinn turned to take in Sam's expression. _Crap. He thinks I'm anorexic now._


End file.
